Making some of the same points made by game designer Jane McGonigal, who appeared at the 2008 IdeaFestival, Carnegie Mellon University professor Jesse Schell describes some of the dynamics that make games such a potent 21st century medium.

While designers will be disappointed if they think they can treat everyone "like little B.F. Skinner characters," Schell effectively, and with a bit of menace toward the end of the video, highlights how what we know about intrinsic human motivation is really quite limited, a discovery with roots in game development and play, but one that neuroscientists and economists, to use but two more recent examples, are now busily exploring.